KIRO Found A Felon Who Votes

SEATTLE — An exclusive KIRO
Team 7 Investigation discovers the state will send ballots to
thousands of convicted felons in the next week, even though many
can’t legally vote.

The Secretary of State’s responded, saying its ongoing work to
purge ineligible voters continues, but that the data KIRO has is
flawed. Says state Elections Director Nick Handy:

“The KIRO data stretches back to the 1800s and contains no
information about whether voting rights have been restored,” he
said. “Most of the cases involve files that have already been
closed by the Department of Corrections.
“There is no definitive list of people who are ineligible to vote
and we not simply revoke registrations based on speculative data or
mere statistics. The government must have real evidence before we
go cancelling a person’s registration. To do otherwise would
violate citizens’ civil rights.”

I just sealed my ballot or I would quote this exactly, but on my ballot envelope, right next to a required signature line, there is a series of statements that I attest to when I do sign on the signature line. Amongst those statements is that…

-I am a citizen of the United States.
-I am a legal resident of Washington and the jurisdiction where I am voting.
-I am at least 18 years old by election day.
-I am not a convicted felon or if I am a convicted felon my voting rights have been restored.

If I vote and any of those things aren’t true, I am guilty of a felony. So, it seems straightforward to me. Prosecute convicted felons that vote.

Just because you get a set of checks in the mail doesn’t mean you can start using them if you didn’t deposit sufficient funds in the bank. Until a convicted felon has had their voting rights restored, they are committing fraud by willfully voting. They know right from wrong. If they send in that ballot, they ought to be prosecuted.

Heavens, the women in the KIRO story knows that she hasn’t had her voting rights restored, but is voting anyway. That is called fraud and it diminishes the power of the vote of law abiding citizens.

Regards,
Kathryn Simpson

P.S. More twisted irony with the “captcha” words… “federal” and “summons”. Eery

The only convicted felon within my periphery knows perfectly well that he can not vote, and he does not register and does not vote. I’ve encouraged him to work with the State of Alaska to get his voting rights restored, as he has completed his obligations to them.

Meanwhile, when he is approached by those who would like to help him register, he states, “I’m sorry. I can’t vote, as I have a felony conviction.”

Sharon,
Why would homeless people have more felons among them than other groups of people? I’ve done a little volunteer work with the homeless in Bremerton, and they are more like my neighbors than they are different. They just don’t have a place to live.

A homeless person I knew was homeless by choice. He was a decent, good person, not a felon…but he slept under bridges from time to time and moved from place to place. He didn’t get or ask for handouts…he worked until he had the amount of money he wanted then moved on.

But the news is full of finding dead people names and felons registered to vote these days.

Remembering the KC auditor actually going out to find and register the homeless, it occurred to me to ask the question.
How would he have known who was a felon and who wasn’t? Felons might well lie about it. I don’t know…I am asking.